


False Assumptions

by Rellanka



Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [56]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, M/M, Possessive Sephiroth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellanka/pseuds/Rellanka
Summary: Sickening is what happens to everyone but Soldiers when they don't find and bond with their soulmate in time. Everyone thinks that Cloud isn't going through it because he's a Soldier.They're wrong.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Series: A Year Of Cloudy Skies [56]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697269
Comments: 7
Kudos: 314





	False Assumptions

He knew how they looked at him sometimes. 

It was how all Soldier’s got looked at, at one point or another. 

As if they weren’t human, as if they were monsters, as if they were lesser just for having advancements that allowed them to be able to tolerate- and sometimes not even be effected by- the Sickening that plagued all other humans. **If** those humans weren’t able to find and complete the bond with their soulmate by the time they were 20. 

A Soldier’s ability to avoid that marked them as Other, maybe more than anything else did.

Even the people that Cloud was growing to consider to be friends, consider to be _family_ weren’t able to hide their worried glances his way. 

***

“Cloud.” Tifa began uncertainly one day while Cloud was keeping her company and doing maintenance on his sword at the same time during the bar’s closed hours, “Are you sure you’re alright? I know… I know that you like to hide how you feel, but hiding something like that… if you just let us know if you’re suffering from the Sickening, we can help you!” She said earnestly, worried eyes studying his form for any sign of said curse. 

“I’m fine, Tif’.” Cloud said gruffly, hefting his sword and pushing it into the sheath on his back with a click. He hadn’t done as good a job as he would have liked, but it was completed enough for him to consider it finished and escape from this conversation.

It was then that he noticed that at some point during his work Tifa’s own soulmate, Aerith, had joined them and was standing beside the bartender behind the bar. He carefully turned his eyes away as Aerith placed a delicate, comforting hand on Tifa’s arm, the gesture seeming oddly intimate and not for his eyes, even as Aerith attempted to catch his eyes with hers. 

“Cloud, are you sure?” Aerith said softly, “The Planet says-“

“Nothing. Because. I’m. Fine.” Cloud bit out before turning tail and escaping out the front door.

***

“Y’know, that Sickening curse crap is bullshit, anyway, right?” Barret asked that night with his own attempt at supporting him while trying to be subtle about it. Which was more akin to a bull charging right into a china shop, but at least the bull was honest about it. 

Still. “Feeling all soft and squishy side tonight, Barret?” If Barret was going to be all supportive at him, then Cloud was going to take the chance to heckle the man, just a little. 

As expected, this provoked a series of fierce cursing and arm waving, Barret determined to thoroughly prove how he’d never show concern for Cloud, no way, no how!

It was comforting, and that was probably the point. Even as Cloud’s lips were twitching slightly despite himself, he noticed that Barret’s were, too. 

Barret side eyed Cloud’s face with a pleased look that wasn’t as hidden as he thought it was, before suddenly his face darkened, as if with some painful memory. 

“Look,” the man muttered in a much more subdued tone than usual, rubbing his thumb over a section skin covered by his clothing, “Something that’s gonna make ya sick enough that you could die if you don’t complete your bond, then doesn’t do jack shit to ya if you lose your bonded, even when that’s when you really _wanna_ die, genu-fucking-ally is a damn curse, and shouldn’t be paid any attention to. It makes you _lucky_ that you don’t have to live through it, Spike. Not something less than human.” 

Cloud Could see the grief in Barret’s eyes, knew that he must be talking from personal experience, but he had nothing to say to that, no perfect words to comfort Barret with. 

He just walked a little closer to Barret’s side to stand there in a silent solidarity, and hoped that was enough. 

***

“Y’know…” Jessie began a little sympathetically, a little hopefully, “You could always join us, if you wanted.”

Wedge perked up from where he was sitting at a table a little further from them, having been looking down at some papers. “Yeah, Cloud, you’ll always be welcome!” he said enthusiastically. 

Biggs didn’t say anything, but that, and the considering, carefully non-threatening look he threw Cloud’s way, said enough for him. 

“Don’t you three already have one more than a typical bond?” Cloud asked dryly, doing his damn best to not acknowledge it as the serious offer that it probably was. Which didn’t make any sense, as none of them were his actual soulmates. 

“Yeah.” Jessie said without shame, “And people call us selfish behind our backs for it all the time. They’d probably call us worse if you joined. But we all really like you hotshot, and even if you aren’t our soulmate, we feel like our relationship would be better with you in it.” 

Cloud was- well, he could act like he wasn’t effected by that, but they deserved more than that. They deserved to see that the offer _meant_ something to him, even if he wasn’t going to be able to take them up on it.

“Thank you.” He said carefully, “I- I’m not great at telling people when I care, but I do. Care about you all. …I’m just not ready to enter into that sort of relationship.” 

“Because you’re still hurting from whatever your soulmate did to you.” Jessie said surely.

That was- that was a lot closer to the truth then Cloud was comfortable with. 

“I’m fine.” He said to them, a phrase that he seemed to be repeating a lot lately. (A phrase that was a lie.) “Thank you again for the offer, but my answer is still no.”

The three of them somehow managed to exchange a glance, something that Cloud guessed only three soulmates could get away with without just looking awkward. 

Finally, Jessie looked back at him and nodded. 

“The offer’s always open if you change your mind.” She said simply, and with that, thank Gaia, the conversation was closed.

***

“It is quite funny, watching them scramble about you like ants. Unable to truly understand who you are, what you need. Offering you devotion worth far less than what you already possess.” Sephiroth’s voice sounded, a possessive lilt to its tone. 

Cloud snorted and turned, glaring up into the apparitions green eyes. 

“What they’re offering me is worth a lot more than anything _you_ ever have.” He snapped.

Sephiroth’s green eyes glowed ferociously at that, the lingering pressure that was always against Cloud’s psyche increasing until he was on his knees and clutching his head, trying with all he was to keep his soulmate **out**. 

“Should you ever touch them, I will take pleasure in ripping them apart _slowly_ so that you can enjoy every single **one** of their agonized screams.” Sephiroth promised silkily, a true threat lingering behind his words.

“I know.” Cloud told the gritty concrete below him, “I fucking know, alright? I won’t join them, I know what you would do if I did.”

Emotional state turning on a dime, as it sometime did with the man, God, whatever the hell Sephiroth considered himself today, Sephiroth made a sound similar to a satisfied purr at that, reaching down to rest a weightless, immaterial hand on Cloud’s bowed head. “Dear puppet, things would be so much easier for you if you would just realize that your place is, and always will be, beneath my hand. To be treasured and cared for and **punished** when the situation calls for it. …But I suppose that is just another thing that I will have to teach you.” 

Cloud stayed very still at his speech, staring down at the concrete with clenched teeth, unwilling for once to rise to Sephiroth’s baiting.

“The next lesson will be occurring soon, puppet.” Sephiroth called mockingly as he **finally** began to fade. “I suggest you be prepared.” 

Cloud would be prepared, but not to learn the lesson. 

**Never** to learn the lesson. 

Because if there was one thing Cloud did know, it was that **no one** would be fine if he ever let Sephiroth ‘teach’ him anything. 

He just hoped Sephiroth was prepared for how awful a student he was going to be. 

It would be such a shame to disappoint his soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate canon in this fic: Soulmates go through the Sickening, a steadily worsening medical condition that shows itself in a myriad of ways, if they don’t meet and complete their bond by the time they are 21. The Sickening can get bad enough to kill the one going through it. The only thing that hasn’t made the population extinct is that people will be drawn to their soulmate at least by the time that they are 20, so they will have a chance to avoid the curse. That's why Aerith and Tifa have already met here.
> 
> Soulmate AUs are kinda something I love, so I’ve written quite a few of them for a variety of pairings. So don’t be surprised when they pop up!


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